Surprises, jet lag, and culture shock

Well I made it home!  It was a long journey, but really it was not bad at all.  When I got home I had my family waiting with huge excited smiles for me, and Will was waiting at Waffle House ready to surprise me!  It was a great welcome home.  And it was nice to have something other than oatmeal for breakfast.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty brutal with the jet lag. I spent half of them falling asleep on whoever I was sitting next to, in the middle of the floor, one time on the stairs (yes, I have talent), in the car, and oh yeah occasionally I would actually fall asleep in my bed.

Last night I slept long and at the right time, and today I have been going strong.

Since I have been home I have been to the movies, been shopping, swimming, running, I have celebrated my father’s birthday, and I have been accused of defacing my roommate’s car.  What can I say; I like to jump right back into things.

 All in all I miss China, and I miss the people who I grew to become very close with while I was there.  But I am glad to be home. It was time.

Here is some of the reverse culture shock which I have experienced:

·         Not nearly being run over when crossing the road

·         Having rules when driving

·         Having to abide by the concept of the line

·         Actually having toilet paper provided for me AND being able to flush it.

·         Not having tons of people around

I think that the thing that is really interesting is that it felt completely normal for me to be in China and now that I am home that feels normal too.  I hadn’t seen my family or Will in over 70 days, 2 and a half months, but once I was with them again it was like we never skipped a beat.  I hadn’t been around Americans, used American food, been to an American mall, and so on for a long time but America is normal too. 

It boggles me how two very different countries can feel so normal to me.  They both even feel somewhat like home.

It blows my mind how seeing people and doing things here in America picks up like I never left. 

Now there is a major transition to take place before August 15^th (and 5 of those days will be spent in Kentucky).  Now I have to process my trip, take care of a decent sized list of things for school, catch up with an equally long list of people, and kick my butt to get into shape for soccer (which I began this morning).

Thank you everyone for your prayers and your support this summer.  Thank you for sharing in the experience with me.  Don’t stop checking this page every now and then.  Life is an adventure, so I will still have adventures to write you about sometimes.